


Silver Scales

by lavenderpastels



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Car Accidents, F/M, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Lots of it, M/M, Taako hurts, honestly this hurts everyone, it looks fluffy then it all goes to hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-01-03
Packaged: 2019-02-27 14:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13250427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderpastels/pseuds/lavenderpastels
Summary: Taako forgets and remembers. Angus goes missing. Taako disappears. Lup has a panic attack.





	1. Chapter 1 | Missing

Taako could only see white.

Blinding, hurting, bright white  _ nothingness. _

His heart rate rose as the brightness invaded every part of his being. He was  _ forgetting.  _ He screamed silently as his memories were wiped away, Angus, Kravitz, Magnus, Merle, oh  _ gods _ Lup, they all were fading away into the white and he couldn't stop it.

Blood roared in his ears in perfect harmony to his racing heart.

He felt like nothing else could be worse and he wanted it to be over and everything began to meld together and-

Taako woke up.

His phone glowed dimly on his bedside table. Beside him, there was nobody.

_ Ba-dum _

Wasn't there supposed to be someone there?

He blearily stumbled out if bed and down the hall.

_ Ba-dum _

He pushed open the door to someone's room. The bed was made and a white letter sat atop the pillow.

_ Ba-dum _

With shaking hands, he opened the neatly folded paper.

_ Ba-dum _

Neat script was scrawled on the sheet, only a sentence reading

“I’ll be back soon sir, don’t worry.”

Angus. 

_ Ba-dum _

Angus was gone.

_ Ba-dum _

Taako fell to his knees, letting out a gut wrenching scream and clutching the note to his chest. Footsteps pounded on the wooden floorboards outside the door. Tears tumbled down his cheeks as he heard someone enter the room and land by his side.

Cool arms wrapped around his quivering form, bringing him close to someone- wait, who was holding him?

“Taako? Taako, honey, please!” a voice sounded urgent. He knew that voice, but  _ who _ ?

Taako’s breath hitched when he realized that the person holding him was Kravitz. He had forgotten  _ Kravitz _ .

“A-angus-”

He couldn’t finish, his throat clenching with sobs. Kravitz coaxed the now crumpled paper from his husband’s hands and read it for himself before setting it down and bringing his arms around the elf in front of him. He soothingly hummed a calming tune, rocking slightly. Taako’s cries began to subside, slowly, but they did.    
“He’s gone.” Taako whispered shakily.   
“We’ll find him dear, I promise.”   
  
\-----   
Hours passed. Phone calls. Police visits. Search parties sent out. Friends and family streamed in and out of the house. Taako sat in a tall chair, head leaning on his hand. He was miserable. Nobody knew where Angus had gone, and nobody had found him.    
Lup walked in and took a seat across from him. She sighed.   
“I’m so sorry Koko.”   
Taako glanced up.   
“For what?”   
“For Angus. That you forgot. It hurts watch this happen and not knowing how to help you.”   
Taako gave a halfhearted smile to his sister.   
“It’s ok Lu.”   
A silence fell heavily between the two until Taako stood and scooped his keys from the counter.   
“I’m going for a drive to clear my mind.”  
  
Lup nodded and Taako ambled out the front door to his sleek car. It was a rainy day, matching the dismal mood. He backed out of the driveway, neglecting to fasten his seat belt and ferried his way through the streets of Neverwinter and out of town. The roads bobbed up and down on hills, and Taako’s foggy mind began to be cleared by the blur of trees and grey clouds. Ahead, the trail sloped upward, reaching more rocky terrain. Taako felt free. The silence in the car was accepted. The absence of activity outside his windows was calming. He became so enraptured in the scenery around him, that he failed to notice the pothole in the asphalt until it was too late. The car swerved wildy and crashed into the guardrail on the side. The airbags deployed, enveloping the elf in a somewhat safe space, however, that didn’t stop the vehicle from tipping over the metal rail and plunged to the ground below.   
The impact was loud. Glass and shrapnel shattered through the small area, cutting up everything, including the panicked wizard trapped inside. Taako’s body flew back, sending stars dancing through his vision.    
Barely conscious, Taako reached feebly for his phone, screen cracked to oblivion. He pressed the home button, but it didn’t wake up. Taako weakly poked at the power button. Nothing.   
His vision was fading now, falling into a world of darkness, and he cried for help one last time, but the plead landed on no ears.    
He was alone.   
  
\-----   
Lup was nervous. Her brother hadn’t returned yet, from what should be a short drive. He hadn’t responded to any of her texts or calls. She paced back and forth, mentally screaming with herself.   
“ _ What if he’s in trouble? _ ”   
“ _ What if he went off on his own? _ ”   
“ _ What if his phone just died and he’s taking a while? _ ”   
The front door opened and she whipped around. It was Barry and Kravitz. Neither of them knew that Taako was now silent as well.   
“Well, the search parties have uncovered nothing.” Barry stated, shuffling through a pile of paperwork.   
“Gods, this is a disaster. We’ve checked the Astral Plane, we’ve checked all of Neverwinter, New Phandalin, Goldcliff, We’ve asked around, and nothing. Where could a young boy go and never be found?” Kravitz replied, clenching his hands together. He looked to Lup. “Anything?”   
She shook her head. Kravitz eyes cast down.   
“Uh, where’s Taako?” Barry queried.   
“I don’t know. He said he went out for a drive an hour ago and hasn’t been responded to any of my texts or calls.”    
“What if he went out to look for him on his own?” Barry suggested.   
“No. It’s not like him to not answer.” Kravitz declared.    
“Are you suggesting that he’s..?”   
“I’m not saying that he’s dead. We would know, but he is somewhere and we don’t know  _ where _ .”   
A knock sounded at the door and Lucretia stepped in holding a single paper and a bag. She looked pale.   
“So the search teams found an overturned car quite a ways outside of Neverwinter.”   
Kravitz stepped forward. “Let me see.”   
Lucretia handed him the paper. “It’s pretty scratched up, they found nobody inside.”   
“This is Taako’s car.”   
Lup’s heart stopped.   
“Yes, I’m afraid it is.” Lucretia confirmed.   
“Did they find Taako anywhere? Footprints?” Barry questioned.   
“No. There’s no evidence of him being there except this,”   
Lucretia reached into the bag and pulled out a badly damaged phone.   
Lup cleared her throat.    
“So let me get this straight, My brother went flying off the road, demolished his car, left his pretty much destroyed phone behind, and his body is somewhere, dead or unconscious.”   
“Yes, that would be the cas-”   
“Hold on, what’s these markings on the ground here?” Kravitz interrupted. Lucretia, Lup and Barry crowded around the photo. Indeed, there were large, smooth gashes in the earth around the car.   
“It looks like a claw gouged that.” Barry noted.   
Silence fell between the four.    
“Well, I’m going to find my brother if its the last thing I do.” Lup proclaimed, storming out the door. Once outside, she gazed at the sky. Anger and fear bubbled in her chest, and she reflexively threw a hand upward and sent a fireball whirling into the clouds with a frustrated scream echoing away from her.    
She felt a tear roll slowly down her cheek and she wiped it away.    
“ _ Why Taako? _ ”   
No. She wouldn’t cry. She needed to be strong.    
“ **_Why?_ ** ”   
“I’ll find you Taako. I’ll find Angus. I’ll bring you  _ and _ Angus home.” She whispered. “I promise.”   
She knew somewhere, her brother was out there. She knew somewhere, Angus was out there. She would not rest until she found them both and brought them home safely, even if it was the last thing she would do.   
She promised.


	2. Chapter 2 | Waking Up

Taako opened his eyes to a throbbing headache pounding in his skull. Groaning under the immense amount of willpower it took for him to sit upright, he realized that he’s no longer in his car. Immediately more awake, he surveyed his surroundings. He was in a large cave, stone walls seamlessly lit by warm light radiating from gods know where. There was a large stack of crates- presumably provisions of some sort- against one wall. On a different wall, there was a myriad of picture frames hanging on the wall above a small armchair with stuffing poking out of it. He sat in what looked like a nest, composed of a soft, wool-like substance and straw. A few jewels and gold were woven into the “nest”, a neat pile of worn books nearby.

Still rather disoriented, Taako examined himself. His arms and head were wrapped mediocrely with thin, off-white gauze. Bruises dotted what skin wasn’t covered by the dressings and there was the occasional blood stain on his clothing. He was about to lay back down to cope with his hangover-like headache when he heard a noise like wings beating. Sitting still, he could hear it gaining in volume. Despite himself, he rose to his feet and hobbled over to the crate stack, hiding behind one.

The noise got louder and louder until it stopped and was quickly replaced with quick scraping. That’s when he saw it. A dragon standing tall enter the cave, scales a glittering silver reflecting the light. Their head swiveled over to the cave wall covered in photographs before glancing back at their nest.

They panicked. The creature whirled around wildly, searching in each corner, tail knocking a few crates off the top of the stack as it whipped back and forth.

Taako rolled out from his hiding place, stood, and did what could qualify as the stupidest thing he had ever done.

“HEY!”

The dragon stopped and turned to him. Their eyes widened as they realized Taako was standing up in front of them.

“You’re awake sir!!”

Taako was taken aback by the voice, but regained himself quickly.

“Why the fuck did you bring me here?!”

The dragon tilted their head.

“Because you were unconscious, sir.”

“But why would a dragon, of all creatures, to take pity on _me_? Why didn’t you just leave me there?”  
  
"Because you're my family."

Their scales had began to glimmer brighter and brighter until the shine abruptly left. The dragon gone, and in his place, was Angus McDonald. The boy timidly padded forward towards Taako.

Taako stepped backwards in sync.

“What the _hell_ is this Agnes?”

“I didn’t want to tell you.”

“So you’re sneaking off, leaving vague notes that send your whole family into a shitstorm of worry and fear to be a dragon!?”

Angus’ face showed the hurt he couldn’t conceal.

“Well I had to shed my scales, and I can’t do that at home so I came here.”

“You coulda said somethin’!”

“I was scared that you would hate me!”

Taako stopped in his tracks. Angus had tears threatening to drop from his eyes

“ _He thought I would hate him_?”

What was so painful to hear, and Taako knew, it was painful to say.

He reached out and tugged the boy into a hug.

“I wouldn’t hate you pumpkin. Sure, I act like I don’t care every now and then, and yeah, I’m a little weirded out by this whole situation, but I would _never_ hate you.”

Angus lifted his head from Taako’s shirt.

“Do you mean it sir?”

“Would I lie to you?”

The detective squinted at him.

“Ok, not the best choice of words, but yes kiddo, I mean it.

Angus grinned a happy grin and snaked his little arms under Taako’s, returning the hug.

“Sir, why were you in a crashed car off the road?” Angus inquired.

Taako hesitated.

“I went for a drive and hit a pothole. At least I’m not dead, Lup woulda kicked my ass if I did, and Krav would be too happy either.”

Angus giggled slightly at Taako’s sarcasm.

“Now bubbeleh, Let’s move on from that. What type of food to you got in here?”

 

\-----

 

Taako now was lording over a fire, a grate overtop boasting carrots, celery and a bowl of Fantasy Campbell’s soup taken from the crates.

Angus had shown him that most of the rations were things like vegetables, bland soup cans, beef jerky and water. Taako was a little more than offended by what he had to work with, but went with it anyway.

Once the grilled foods were finished, Taako chopped them with a plastic knife that Angus had managed to scrounge up.

The scene was calm. Taako, cooking as he loved, Angus in the armchair reading a novel with torn cover.

The state of Taako’s mind was not calm. Thoughts rushed about as he tried to piece together that his son was a dragon.

He scraped the jerky and vegetables into the soup.

The cooking didn’t help either.

The cooking brought back memories of the caravans and time alone he spent, cooking with only the sparse rations he had on hand. It brought back memories of when he met Sazed, and trying to provide for the two of them equally. It brought back memories of the times Sazed would storm out and take what food they had left with him.

“Are you okay sir?” the boy asked from the armchair. Wait, why was a child here? _Sazed wouldn’t like that._

Taako paused and gazed over at the kid. His glasses were slipping down his freckled nose, face framed by unruly curls of hair. He looked so _unbelievably_ familiar, but he didn’t know who this kid was.

“Sir?’

“Who are you? You need to get out, Sazed’s going to be angry if he finds out you’re here!”

The kid looked troubled.

“Taako, Sazed has been in jail since the day of Story and Song.”

It hit Taako that he had forgotten that it’s been over two decades since his caravan days.

“Y-you’re right bubbeleh, sorry, I just… got lost in my thoughts.”

He offered a weak smile, refocusing back on the task at hand, but he could feel Angus watching him intently, concerned.

“Ay, D’jango, do ya got any bowls or somethin’ for this?”

“Oh, yeah!”

The boy detective jumped up and scurried over to a crate, rooting through it. He pulled out two mugs, one missing a handle and the other chipped.

“Will these work?”

“Uh yeah, sure.”

Angus brought the less-than-decent conditioned mugs to the wizard, who then slowly poured the meal into them.

“There ya go kiddo.”

“Thanks Dad.”

Taako froze.

“Dad?”

“Oh, sorry, if you don’t want me to, I wo-”

“No, no, it’s alright. It just took me by surprise.”

Angus beamed and returned to his chair as Taako picked up his own mug to join him.

 

\-----

 

Lup was mad. No, not mad, furious. Her, Kravitz and Barry had been out on the road by where Taako’s car was found. They had stopped by the spot, the car still there because nobody had taken equipment out to retrieve it. Lup had explored what little she could access. Nothing was salvageable from the wreck except from a single picture, and even that was torn and doused in water.   
It was an older picture, probably by a couple years. It was containing their family, Taako holding Angus on his hip, Kravitz on his right, Lup on his left. Barry stood next to Lup, arm over her shoulders. Next to Kravitz was Magnus, cradling a small puppy in his arms.

In the front, Merle and Davenport were together, and Lucretia by their side.

Everybody was smiling, happy, laughing. It was a treasurable moment, and seeing it yanked at Lup’s heart.

     Now she sat in her room in the middle of a mess of broken and burned items, crying hot, broken tears and holding onto the damaged photograph.

“Fuck.” she whispered hoarsely between choking sobs.

Her nails dug into her palms, begging, pleading for something to hold on and stay there.

Kravitz and Barry had to drag her back home. They insisted that she needed rest, and couldn’t search when it was darker than black velvet.

She understood what they meant. She could feel herself coming undone, but she didn’t want to stop. Her brother needed her.

Lup was curled into a ball now, screaming her breath away, screaming until her voice cut away. It was hell, missing Taako. He was her heart. He was her tie down, and now she couldn’t find him.

Her heart ached, as well did every fiber of her being.

_No_

Tears still falling, she shakily took an upright stance.

_I refuse to stand by._

She opened the window into the dark night, pin pricked by white light of stars. The cool airbrushed on her tearstained features.

_I’m sorry for leaving._


	3. Chapter Three | Home

Barry didn’t sleep well that night. Between Lup screaming helplessly from their bedroom and sounds of items shattering, it worsened his troubled mind. Even when she finally quieted down and presumably fell asleep, all he could think about the pain she was suffering. It kept him up, leaving the only other thing to do was to study the inconclusive search results and the documented photo capturing the wreck.    
Across from him, Kravitz was seated, head in his hands. He looked exhausted.Barry understood, he knew how it was to lose someone you loved. He knew that all too well.   
“Gods, what if they’re both just gone…?” He mumbled, the despairing tone in his voice all too obvious.   
“Kravitz, they’re not gone. The only plane that they’d be able to access it the Ethereal Plane, and only Taako is skilled enough to do that. I mean sure, he could try to pull off what he did on Story and Song with Phandalin, but I doubt he would.”   
Kravitz sighed. “That’s true.”   
Barry tossed the papers onto the coffee table.    
“I’m going to go check on Lup, see if she’s doing alright.”   
Kravitz nodded and Barry rose from the couch, for what felt like the first time in a millenium. He navigated to his and Lup’s room. He politely knocked on the door before walking in.    
He wish he hadn’t.   
Objects were strewn everywhere, some broken, others not. The bedsheets lay a twisted mess. The window was wide open, curtains flapping wildly and Lup was nowhere to be found.    
He fell to his knees with a resounding  _ thump,  _ eyes wide open and terrified.    
“Barry? Is everything alright?”    
Kravitz’s voice echoed down the hall, but sounded far away to Barry’s ears.   
“She left.” He replied numbly.   
“What!?”    
Kravitz trekked over to see what was the problem for himself.   
“She left.” Barry repeated, still not wanting to accept it.   
“This is bad, we have to try to contact he-”   
“She won’t answer.”   
“What do you mean? We haven’t even tried to call her yet and you’re already sure that she’s not going to pick up?!”   
“Kravitz, I know for a fact that she is determined to find Taako and bring him home, and I know that she will  _ not  _ respond to us trying to get ahold of her.”   
“So what do we do? Sit around until she  _ somehow  _ turns up? Because if we do that, by the time she comes back, hope will be lost.”    
Barry wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. Not only was his nephew and brother-in-law gone, but his wife too. He wished that everything would somehow revert to being normal again, but he knew that it didn’t work that way.    
“No. We’re going out to find her. We know that the general direction she most likely went it to the wreck.”   
Kravitz rubbed his temples and sighed again. “I hope you’re right.”    
  
\-----   
  
Taako lay reclined against Angus’ dragon form, which was sleeping calmly. It was cool outside, but of course, the temperature didn’t affect the wizard whatsoever, given that Angus gave off a comfortable amount of warmth.    
The boy promised to fly him back home in the morning, after all, he needed to get home, and Angus did as well.    
Taako used this time to think. He was starting to get over that his son was a dragon, hell, he was laying against him with no qualms.    
What did bother him, was the forgetting. He had forgotten everybody he loved twice in the same day. He knows it’s because of how Lucretia fed the memories to Fisher and Junior, and it comes back every now and then, but twice in a day? That’s unusual.

He turns on his side yawns. 

“Good night Agnes.” he whispered, before dozing off.

 

What felt like a few hours later, Taako was awoken by Angus jolting suddenly and an alarmed yelp. Although drowsy, he could still gain his bearings enough to see a shadowed figure at the mouth of the cave aiming a hand at Angus. 

Sparks flitted off the person’s palm, and Taako sprang into action. He cast a sloppy, but effective Magic Missile hurtling at the magic user, knocking them back.

“What the  _ fuck _ Taako!?” a voice exclaimed. Light billowed out from the being, who cast a sort of fire spell, and now them being illuminated, Taako could see now that it was his sister, tears flooding her eyes.

 

Lup stared at Taako who stood in a protective stance between her and the dragon.

“Why are you defending that, that  _ monster!? _ ” she demanded, regaining herself.

“Because he’s my son!”

Lup paused, then let out a sad laugh.

“You’ve lost your mind Taako.”

“I’m serious!” he insisted.

As if it was proving his point, the dragon bowed its head, and it’s scales started to gleam brighter and brighter, before dissipating and revealing Angus, who looked slightly injured from whatever Lup had cast at him.

“This is insane.” Lup breathed. “This  _ has  _ to be a shitty trick.”

“It’s not.” Angus squeaked. He had taken to hiding behind Taako.

“I was freaked out too, but you have to trust him Lup.”

She pulled her eyes away from her brother to her feet and shook her head.

“Alright. Whatever. We’ll figure it out later. Right now, we need to get back home.”

Taako nodded, and from behind him, Angus reverted to his dragon form.

The boy gestured with his head for the siblings to climb up on his back, and they complied. 

Angus took off from the cave, soaring over forests and mountains lit by pale moonlight. 

“Angus, land over there!” Lup shouted over the wind, pointing at a location southwest from them. Following her arm, Taako could see two shapes of people trapsising on the edge of the woods. Angus soared downward towards them, wind whistling in his passenger’s ears. The two on hearing the dragon approaching, wheeled around. It was Barry and Kravitz, and gods, the looks on their faces were fucking  _ priceless _ . Kravitz reached his arm out, motioning for his scythe, but Taako leaned to the side, waving before letting himself go into freefall.    
As he approached the ground, being the typical wizard he was, Taako cast Levitation at the last possible moment, catching himself a few feet from the grass. Angus landed beside him a few moments later, Lup leaping to the ground.    
Barry looked like he was going to break as he reached out to take his wife into his arms.    
“Hey m’dudes, ch’boy is back.” Taako commented flippantly, as if he had never left in the first place. 

“Taako what the  _ hell  _ happened to you?” Kravitz questioned, obvious that he was holding back tears.    
“I flew off a cliff, almost died and found out my son is a dragon. No big deal homie.”    
“No big deal!? You went missing after  _ several _ panic attac- wait, what do you mean your son is a dragon?”   
“Hello Mister Kravitz sir!” Angus piped up, still a dragon.    
Kravitz looked at Taako for an explanation.   
“We’ll talk about it later.” Taako offered, finally touching the ground.    
He walked up to his husband and kissed him on the cheek.   
“Let’s go home.”   
  
\-----   
  
After returning home, providing an explanation to the series of events with a side of macaroons and Taako expressing offense at how his car was still in a ditch on the side of the road, (he had claimed that even a goblin would have the courtesy to bring it back) amends were made.    
Taako now sat on the edge of Angus’s bed, reading from the same Caleb Cleveland novel the boy had enjoyed earlier. Reaching the end of the chapter, the elf bookmarked the page, closed the book and set it aside on the desk nearby. He turned to Angus, who was nearly asleep.    
“Hey, Agnes?”   
“Yes?”   
“Next time, tell us if you need to run off, m’kay?”   
He smiled a tired smile. “Ok dad.”    
Taako returned the soft smile. “I love ya kiddo.”   
He tousled Angus’s curls, clicked off the lamp and left the room to go to his. As he shuffled down the hall, he could see into Barry and Lup’s room, them both fast asleep and tangled in an embrace. It was a calming sight to say the least.    
Continuing on, he reached his room, Kravitz already inside waiting for him. Taako tiptoed in and slid under the covers, wrapping his arms around the reaper’s waist. In return, Kravitz rested his arms around Taako.   
It was silent, but yet, a comfortable silence. A silence that felt reassuring.   
“Hey, uh, Taako?”   
“What’s up m’fella?”   
“Earlier Angus pulled me aside and told me that you asked him why he would save you of all people and that you forgot again?”   
Taako tensed. He didn’t expect that he’d have to face this head on.   
“Well, um, I honestly thought I was going to be left there, and part of me was fine with that. As for the forgetting thing, that was just a spur of the moment thing I guess.”   
Taako knew that Kravitz was worried about him, but really, he didn’t know how to explain any of it.    
He felt Kravitz shift and press a kiss to his forehead.   
“I love you Taako.” He murmured.    
Taako buried his face into the other man’s shoulder.   
“I love you too.”    
  



End file.
